Government supporters attack Tunisia union

Source: Al Jazeera

Tunisian police have broken up fighting in Tunis when pro-government supporters attacked labour union members they blamed for inciting protests last week against the government.

Several hundred pro-government supporters, with knives and sticks, charged a gathering of members of Tunisia's biggest union, UGTT, in the capital on Tuesday and broke windows at its offices with stones, a witness of Reuters news agency said.

Police then intervened to separate the two groups. About 10 people were hurt in the clashes, the witness said.

Violent clashes

Hundreds of UGTT members, who backed days of protests over lack of jobs and development in the deprived town Siliana last week, had been chanting slogans, calling for a general strike and the downfall of the government led by the Ennahda party.

"Ennahda will end up like Ben Ali. They have not chosen their enemy well," said one demonstrator, referring to Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the toppled dictator in the Arab uprising in January 2011.